Skip to main content

tv   Morning Joe  MSNBC  September 24, 2012 6:00am-9:00am EDT

6:00 am
ben, georgia guy, he's talking trash to vanderbilt. >> i was not talking trash. >> yes, you were. was implied when i wasn't going to say anything. fine. you guys are cool. how about one e-mail, tower? >> i'm trying to wait out my last half hour of work. lorrie writes, having severe allergies. >> i'm sorry to hear that. are those the very best e-mails you could find this morning? >> not a lot to choose from. >> "morning joe" starts now. ♪ time to face the strains ♪ changes ♪ you want to be a richer man and the emmy goes to --
6:01 am
julianne moore. >> and the emmy goes to -- jay roach. >> and the emmy goes to -- "game change." >> thank you. wow! this is really exciting. i share this award with mark halperin and john heilemann whose wonderful book it was based upon. >> i just wanted to shout-out for mark halperin and john heilemann who wrote the great book. >> wow! good morning. it is monday, september 24th. welcome to "morning joe." it is "game change" day here on "morning joe." with us on set, msnbc contributor mike barnicle, chief foreign affairs correspondent and host of "andrea mitchell reports," andrea mitchell with us in studio. we have the president of the council on foreign relations, richard haass. and from washington, msnbc political analyst and msnbc contributor richard wolffe. and political editor and white house correspondent for "the
6:02 am
huffington post," sam stein. and drum roll, please, willie, in los angeles, msnbc and "time" magazine senior political analyst, now emmy award winner mark halperin. halperin, are you still -- are you a little sleepy this morning? are you kind of on a high? >> no, i'm all good. no, i'm all good. we've had a good evening. >> it was great. >> look at him. >> he's glowing. >> he's taking the job kind of seriously, isn't he, coming to work in a tux? >> our "game change" boys, john heilemann, mark halperin celebrating a huge win for "game change," the hbo political drama based on their book about the 2008 election. it won four awards, four awards. look what's going on here. best overall mini-series or movie, best writing and directing, lead actress julianne moore who's so awesome, also won for her outstanding performance playing sarah palin. it was a huge night.
6:03 am
i, of course, watched none of it. willie, i'm sure you were in bed at 7:30, "way too early." >> i saw some of it. i saw some of their wins. congratulations to mark and john. we're very excited for them. we do, as i pointed out to mark, we're a little worried about john heilemann. where is he right now? >> right, where is he right now? >> if you know anything about john heilemann, you, too, would be concerned where he is. chateau marmont, i would assume, holed up. >> or in a ditch. >> don't even say that. i'm trying to figure out how they get on the plane with all that hardware. >> that's a good point. >> bring it on home. >> oh, my -- look at this -- one, two, three, four, five. that's nice. that's a good night. >> well deserved. >> well deserved. what else did well? >> well, you want to talk about what else did well? >> i do. >> "homeland," president obama's favorite show he said in an interview recently. "homeland" had a huge night. >> you're surprised i want to know, aren't you? >> yes, i am. supposed to be a great show. i haven't seen it. i don't have showtime. >> it's great.
6:04 am
>> i've got to get the package. >> why don't you upgrade? >> have you ever heard of a company known as comcast? >> oh, comcast. >> yes. >> i have the most basic cable. i have, like, 12 channels at home. >> do you still have an antenna on your set? >> all i need is elmo at my house and i'm good. "homeland" won a couple, damian lewis, claire danes. >> she's great. >> best writing, best overall drama series. on the comedy side, "modern family." >> love that show. >> eric stonestreet who is absolutely hilarious, supporting actor and julie bowen, actress. >> jon stewart. >> again. >> well, now i know what i need to watch because i haven't been watching anything, although "modern family" i've just finished. i've seen some of the first season. i love that show. that's fun. those folks are great. look at me. i'm doing some of this -- whatever it is, pop culture, and
6:05 am
proud of halperin and heilman. >> can we ask highlights from last night, mark halperin, people you met? >> or behind-the-scenes insights, crazy moments? >> first of all, you know, we all deal with a lot of tension and pressure in what we do. the pressure in the room amongst the folks from hbo was pretty high. a lot of great expectations about how "game change" would do. it was just interesting to watch people who are normally pretty calm get a little bit tight as the awards came up. a lot of -- met a lot of fun people. the woman who plays lady mary on "down abbey." yeah. met her. she was great. >> what happened between you two? >> stop the presses. >> she was very nice. >> okay. >> you know, there were a lot of celebrities, let me put it that way. >> i want to know who's going to play the main characters in
6:06 am
"game change 2." candidates, please, for mitt romney and barack obama. >> mark halperin, thank you very much. you just go back to sleep. we have a packed show ahead. congratulations, by the way. new evidence this morning linking sugary drinks to obesity. why some dieting foods may be harmful to your health and why being skinny does not necessarily mean being healthy. we're going to be talking about that with dr. nancy snyderman. she'll explain the findings. also, obama campaign senior adviser david axelrod will join us live on set. a lot of folks say that the criticism of romney's campaign is that he lacks specific, that that criticism lacks specifics. that criticism can be applied just as accurately as the the president. so we're going to ask axelrod to make the case for an obama second-term specifically. so we'll get to that straight ahead. of course, i put nancy in the minute i read those headlines. joe's off. we can do what we want here. okay? let's go way left, too, while we're at it. with the election just over a month away, mitt romney is
6:07 am
vowing to spend less time raising money and more time reaching out to voters. romney spoke to a crowd of nearly 7,000 people in colorado last night as he and running mate paul ryan launch a three-day bus tour today through the battleground state of ohio where a new poll released on sunday shows romney trailing 51%-46% among likely voters. the survey by the university of cincinnati institute for policy research was conducted mostly before that hidden video emerged of romney referring to the 47% of americans. in an interview with "60 minutes," romney was asked about his comments on the hidden video and whether his campaign was in need of repair. >> a lot of republicans would like to know a lot of your donors would like to know, how do you turn this thing around? >> well, it doesn't need a turnaround. we've got a campaign which is tied with an incumbent president of the united states. i've got a very effective campaign that's doing a very
6:08 am
good job. but not everything i say is elegant, and i want to make it very clear, i want to help 100% of the american people. >> all right. just because i have no discipline, richard wolffe, take 20 seconds to double down on those comments. your response. >> well, you're not tied if you're at least five points down in ohio. you can't win if you're that far down in ohio. both candidates, let's face it, the president and mitt romney, have made more than their fair share of mistakes here. the difference here is that mitt romney's mistakes are of his own making, by and large. there aren't any more feet that he can shoot himself in. and the problem is that the tax situation, his comments have come from him, and the president can argue, well, you know, you can disagree with all of my approaches, but there were other things at play in the economic crisis that led to the unemployment we've got. that's the difference we're at right now. >> sam stein, it seems he sort of blamed himself for it and said it's not my campaign, it's me. >> yeah. and you know, in some respects, he's right. he was the one on tape.
6:09 am
he was the one who said what he said. the candidate holds responsibility. and it would be very weird for mitt romney to blame someone else when he's projected this aura about him as the sort of, you know, the controlling ceo type, the person who can run a good, tight ship and then he blames surrogates. it makes sense that he blames himself. richard's right. there's no way to say that he's not trailing. i get that they're looking at national tracking polls, but this isn't really a national race. this is a race in eight or so very important states. and in many of those states romney is clearly losing. >> as a turnaround guy, i still don't masee him making a real attempt to turn it around. scott brown said he'd like romney's campaign to recapture the same energy it had after paul ryan was first announced as the running mate. >> i want to see more passion. certainly in part, it is a referendum on this president. there's no doubt about it. but i think for most americans particularly in my state where there's a lot of swing independent voters, they want to
6:10 am
know more than what's wrong with this president. they want to know what's right and what's going to move this country forward. i want to see fire in the belly and see this country move forward. >> andrea mitchell, a lot of calls to let ryan be ryan. a lot of calls from republicans to let mitt romney change his campaign. so it really isn't just the left lathering in some of these gaffes, it's the right that's very worried, too. >> you've seen republican conservatives across the board criticizing the romney campaign and wanting ryan to have a stronger voice, especially, of course, scott walker and ryan's previously coming from wisconsin. one of the big remaining issues is you've got the debate in nine days. and will mitt romney define himself? and the other thing to urge against overcaution on the side of the democrats is that the republicans are about to hit barack obama with a ton of advertising. the super pacs are going to unload, zma could make a difference. >> president obama is up with a new ad in the state of ohio. romney and ryan both going to be
6:11 am
in ohio cross crossing that state. president obama is using that 47% comment from last week in this new ad. check it out. >> mitt romney attacked 47% of americans who pay no income tax including veterans, elderly, the disabled. >> my job is not to worry about those people. >> doesn't the president have to worry about everyone? mitt romney paid just 14.1% in taxes last year. he keeps millions in bermuda and the cayman islands. he won't release tax returns before 2010. maybe instead of attacking others on taxes, romney should come clean on his. >> i'm barack obama, and i approve this message. >> so mike, mitt romney came out on friday, showed a summary of his 2011 taxes, 14% tax rate. he gave a ton of money to charity, it should be pointed out. does this ad from president obama work, the combination of mitt romney's lower tax rate and at the same time the 47% comments? >> well, the combination of mitt romney's wealth, his income, and his tax returns make him even
6:12 am
more vulnerable than he's already proven to be. i mean, people get money. what mitt romney does not get about money and the american people, it's the absence of money that's crucial to so many families, the ability to take your family out to dinner once a month, the ability to walk into a store with your kids and not be shocked by the price of sneakers. it's the absence of money in a lot of people's family budgets that really separate him from the rest of the country. he just doesn't seem to get that. doesn't seem to get it. >> and richard wolffe, does the 47% theme, does that now become a theme for president obama through the campaign? is it more than a one-week news story? >> oh, for sure. and by the way, the dumping of the tax returns on a friday night is not going to end the story last weekend. you know, this ties -- what the obama campaign always looks for is something that ties the narrative together. that's what this speech does. he doesn't care about these kinds of voters. he doesn't care about you. he is out of touch on the taxes.
6:13 am
and the interesting thing about the "60 minutes" interview was that he doesn't see -- you know, even for people who are super wealthy, even for people who are entrepreneurs, the loophole that the venture capital folks have, this very low rate, is seen as a piece of very successful but actually very offensive lobbying. this isn't about capital gains. this is a way to carry on privileged status for people who are essentially gaining large fees. and so even within finance, this is seen as being something wrong, an anomaly. and mitt romney is the one who benefits. he is the perfect storm in himself. >> so richard haass, the tax returns tell us a lot about how much money he was or was not making in the past couple of years or just making money on interest. it didn't tell us a lot about foreign income, money that's placed abroad. when you read the coverage of his tax returns, did it raise any questions in your mind? >> again, it reinforces the things we've just been talking
6:14 am
about, wealth and the rest and how he makes his money. it's not off of salary income. it's off of investments which puts him in a small percentage of americans. this all ties to the larger point. if you're not going to put out a serious set of ideas about what this country ought to be doing on economic policy, domestic policy and on foreign policy, then you leave yourself much more vulnerable to personal attacks, the kinds of things we're seeing, or the gaffes take a larger place. it's the reason you see so many people surrounding mitt romney say you've got to have a much more intellectually active campaign. even if in some cases it makes you vulnerable. the problem is if you do not put out a developed body of ideas and a set of policy speeches, then you'll be vulnerable to either personal attacks or gaffes will take on a much larger role than otherwise they should. >> there's so many instances in his -- if i may use the word narrative -- where he is trying to be something, trying to fulfill a role, even ceo where
6:15 am
he was the ceo, but he kind of wasn't like a ceo like others. he was handling money and other people were handling all the things that ceos usually handle. he's always trying to fill roles that he doesn't have the credibility or the background or the consistency to actually fill out on. and you see him feeling kind of revealed in interviews. sam stein, you want in? jump in. >> yeah. i just want to remark on how incredible it is that we're still talking about mitt romney's tax returns. i think this is, like, six months into this. it started in the republican primary, obviously, when he released one year and it escalated over the summer and it's culminated in this release. and it looks like we'll be talking about it for a couple more weeks at least. and it shows an ineptitude on the part of the campaign to anticipate this as a problem. i mean, they could have dealt with this in a different manner, and they just didn't do it. and i think it's a real testament "a," to the ability of the obama campaign to keep the story going, but also to the ineptitude of the romney campaign to figure out how to do it before it blew up in their face.
6:16 am
>> barnicle. >> that's one of two big mysteries i think a lot of people have about this campaign, why they didn't take three or four years of tax returns and dump them out last christmas eve. >> get it over with. >> he's been running for president for six years. this is not a surprise that people would query his taxes. and the second big mystery i think a lot of people wonder about is why he hasn't stood up there and say, look. i am a rich boar, but i have a program to put people back to work, and here it is one, two and three. >> yeah. >> just keep saying it. >> so his advisers who are, like, strongly telling him, this is what you need to do and have a real impact and really can punch through and kind of help mitt romney be mitt romney, they should, for that, you know, not making him do the tax return dump last christmas eve, they should get a bonus, right? like job well done, another one. $25,000. >> he's been running for president for so many years, and we're anticipating it, why he didn't change his investment strategy and some of those
6:17 am
foreign accounts years ago is a mystery. also, take a look at the details, they released 20 years -- a summary of 20 years without specifics for individual years. but if you look at the capital gains tax and the way that rate changed 15 years ago, by releasing 20 instead of 15, he basically raised his effective tax rate over that stretch. >> terrific. >> it's all rather manipulative. >> and contrived. another bonus for his campaign team. okay. in an interview with "60 minutes," let's go to foreign policy now. president obama defended his administration's foreign policy in the wake of the recent attack at the u.s. consulate in libya that killed four americans. >> reporter: since the benghazi traj tragedy, your opponent has attacked you as being weak on national defense and weak on foreign policy. he said you need to be more aggressive in iran, you haven't done enough to support the revolt in syria and that our friends don't know where we
6:18 am
stand and our enemies think we're weak. >> well, let's see what i've done since i've came into office. i said i'd end the war in iraq. i did. i said that we'd go after al qaeda. they have been decimated in the fatah. that we'd go after bin laden. he's gone. so i've executed on my foreign policy, and it's one that the american people largely agree with. you know, if governor romney is suggesting that we should start another war, he should say so. >> we're going to get to iran as well. the candidates were asked about that. but quickly, richard, on this question, explain the fine line the president is walking here, answering it. >> well, the president is out there defending his record. can i make a slightly related point on foreign policy? what's interesting to me is there's an area of overlap. the president goes out and says the egyptians are neither allies or adversaries. they're in between. if you heard romney last night, we've got to test the egyptians, see how they do with israel, how
6:19 am
they treat christians and other groups within the society. we want so see whether they provide protection for our diplomats. he's basically saying this relationship is going to depend upon whether and how the egyptians meet certain tests. for what it's worth, you've got the two candidates essentially saying very similar things, and it's very representative of where american foreign policy is heading in this world. >> the fact is that president morsi who's here for the united nations, the day before those protests, there were more than 50 ceos led by the deputy secretary of state in cairo meeting with him and saying that he sounded like a western european leader, all really impressed with him. in his interview with "the new york times" that was published on sunday. he is really projecting that he is trying to -- and he knows that he needs the imf. he needs u.s. aid. he's trying to balance these forces. there's a lot of hope, actually, about what morsi represents. >> he's also narrow casting. the danger is, he's sending those messages to visiting businessmen and others, but he's
6:20 am
obviously -- >> i think you'll see a different morsi this week in new york. >> yeah, but the question is what kind of a morsi we see back at home in cairo and whether he follows through or whether he still made the transition from muslim brotherhood -- >> that's republican criticism though of president obama that he has not followed up on the air ar spring individually with these countries, that he's not been effective enough in developing a policy for egypt, for libya. >> let's bring mark halperin back in because you talk about this week in new york and how interesting that's going to be. i would think the president would lake that to be very uninteresting and uneventful. >> well, to me, maybe the most interesting thing is these back-to-back appearances of the clinton global initiative. interesting that bill clinton invited mitt romney. kind of interesting governor romney accepted, although he accepted before bill clinton's convention speech when he was effective in dismantling him. we saw four years ago when senator mccain and then senator obama appeared. it was a pretty interesting event both in front of the cameras and behind the scenes.
6:21 am
i suspect romney is going to have to use the opportunity because he doesn't have a day to waste to try to draw implicit contrast. >> all right. we'll be talking about iran and the netanyahu question that the candidates both got coming up. also, david axelrod will join us, tom brokaw along with chuck todd and later education secretary arne duncan. up next, mike allen with the "politico playbook." first, bill karins is back! >> welcome back. >> he's so sweet. we've been looking for someone to punch. >> i missed it. >> you did? >> at home my wife was treating me nice in the morning. it didn't feel right. >> that's not right. all right. well, just give us the forecast. >> you guys got horrible minds. >> yes. >> yes, you do. good morning, everyone. i hope you have a wonderful weekend. we officially welcomed in fall. certainly feels like it. two flip sides of this. the southern half of the country wants the cooler air.
6:22 am
they're done with the heat. while the northern plains are like already? give us a break. we've seen extremely cool air coming down from the northern plains. temperatures in the 30s and 40s in many areas. we have frost advisories out everywhere in blue. these temperatures are warm enough that you'll probably want to have the heater on in the car, you probably had the heat on in your house from minneapolis to chicago to detroit to buffalo. this is the first time this season i've used this map. the windchill map. we actually have windchills in the lower to mid-30s in a few spots. look at detroit. 34 is your windchill this morning. if you're out at the bus stop, the kids this morning, maybe even hat gloves. can you believe that? the forecast for your monday, it's going to be a nice afternoon. the sun will warm us out. we won't have a lot of wet weather. for traveling around the country, no problems whatsoever. there's some of that heat i was talking about. dallas today, 96. you'd love a little cool shot of air. it doesn't look like any is headed your way. you're going to be 90 through the weekend. more updates to come and a look at the tropics. you're watching "morning joe."
6:23 am
the sun's coming up slowly. beautiful day under way in new york city. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. [ male announcer ] when a major hospital wanted to provide better employee benefits while balancing the company's bottom line, their very first word was... [ to the tune of "lullaby and good night" ] ♪ af-lac ♪ aflac [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. [ yawning sound ]
6:24 am
[ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this.
6:25 am
6:26 am
mitt romney on friday released his 2011 tax returns which showed he paid a 14% tax rate. so just a little less than what restaurants add on for parties of six or more. the 14% tax rate romney paid is less than the 20% paid by the average american. how did he pay such a low rate? he claimed 47% of americans as dependents. >> that's pretty good. time now to take a look at the "morning papers" at 26 past the hour. "usa today," after selling an estimated 8 million iphone 5s since friday, economists believe sales from apple's latest gadget
6:27 am
could provide up to $3 billion into the u.s. economy by the end of the year. apple releases their official iphone 5 sales numbers later today. why did people buy it if they had already an iphone? >> mike, did you get yours in the mail? >> yes. >> silly. you have one. >> i can't speak to how effective it is. >> we're greedy, materialistic and -- >> plus extra. >> we don't need these things. we have iphones. they break. >> we keep buying the new ones. "the wall street journal," the impact of super pacs may not be as significant as one thought, reports "the journal." based on polling so far, it appears super pacs have not successfully influenced voter opinions especially in swing states where the outside money is being spent. >> interesting. let's do politico with mr. mike allen. he's got a look at the "playbook." mike, good morning. >> good morning. >> you've got g.w. battleground polls showing president obama making big gains on mitt romney
6:28 am
especially on questions of the economy. fill us in. >> yeah, willie, what we see here in the politico george washington university battleground is that electorate that looks like the day before the election. you know, we have 43 days till the election. nine days till the debate, all of october, and yet what's striking about this poll, willie, is it looks like an election that is hardened. 80% of people say they're excited to go out to vote, something that you usually only see the week before an election. 4% undecided. and here's an amazing one. and this is something that's very ominous for the romney campaign. last month when we did the battleground poll, one person in five was willing to change their vote. this time, that's down to one in ten. again, another side of this hardening election. and this is a fascinating poll question and one that you worry about most if you're a romney headquarters in boston. who do you think is going to
6:29 am
win? and putting aside who they're voting for, 60% of people in this poll think that obama's going to win. a huge psychological advantage as we head into this nine-day trek to the debate, 43-day trek to the election. >> mike, did you say 4% undecided in the poll? wow. >> isn't that incredible? and just that one in ten willing to change their mind. so the romney campaign now is having to disrupt something rather than hold their place, they're going to have to change what's happening. if the election trends go this way, obama wins a little more easily than we thought someone would win this election. >> mark halperin, the polls we've looked at, whether they be battleground state polls or this information mike's giving us this morning, they don't look good for mitt romney, but if you're the romney campaign looking 40-some days out, what's the good news here? what's your position? what's the positive you can take away? >> well, i think they need three things. i've got a piece up on time.com about what it's going to take because clearly the polls that
6:30 am
mike talks about of people thinking governor romney's going to lose is reflected anecdotally as i've traveled across the country this week, i talked to a lot of strong republicans who think he's going to lose. romney needs to perform better. he needs some happenstance. and he needs to get circumstances back on the economy. we have not been talking about the obama economy very much. that's the only way mitt romney's going to win the race. he needs all three of those things, i think, in conjunction with the debate to come back. >> richard wolffe, 4% undecided. if you believe the way the numbers are right now, that doesn't bode well for mitt romney. >> no, and people are already voting. and early voting is taking hold. you know, i don't know -- it's not just the undecided, it's the people who have already decided and cast their vote that's even a bigger problem, especially considering the huge investment that we just haven't seen on the surface but has been there all along, by chicago in the ground game. it really does come down to the debates now. this nine-day period, you've still got a lot of tax questions that mitt romney's going to
6:31 am
face. he has to land a knockout blow in the first debate. and that's not easy. >> mike allen, i'm also fascinated by your piece which you've written about sheldon addleson already spent $70 million and is willing to spend $100 million? where's the impact being felt? >> economic stimulus. >> andrea, he's really reshaped the race from out in las vegas. we sat down for two hours with sheldon addleson, the casino owner who rarely gives an interview. we went into the venetian where he has his owner's suite. and the previous recordholder for individual giving in a campaign was george soros back in 2004 who gave about $25 million to defeat george w. bush. this time sheldon adelson has given at least $70 million, $20 million to $30 million of that is unreported. it's not been reported before because it goes to organizations that don't disclose their
6:32 am
donors. he told me he's willing to give as much as $100 million. he said he's willing to do what it takes to defeat president obama. what the fascinating thing about this is, he's not particularly close to mitt romney. as you ul remember, he was the one who single-handedly kept newt gingrich in the race by writing checks for $20 million. so what's fascinating about sheldon adelson is he's setting himself up as the go-to person in the republican party. he told "politico" in this interview that he also wants to may this role in 2016. so at the republican convention, he was the man to see in his suite, he had people dropping by, karl rove, rudy giuliani, george pataki. he had dinner with speaker boehner whose super pac he gave $5 million to. he had a meeting with the number two house republican, eric cantor, who he also gave $5 million to, spreading the wealth. >> we are all looking at how gross this is, right? like you guys get this? >> you think it doesn't have an
6:33 am
impact on middle east policy? >> it's totally gross. >> it's a drop in the bucket for him. i think he's worth, what, $21 billion? this is what you can do. what's surprising to me is he doesn't do it in secret. he could give money to groups where they don't have to reveal their donors. >> but then he wouldn't have a sign of suck-ups outside his door which he must like a lot. >> and the other thing that i loved about the interview that mike did was he had one complaint about george w. bush and that he ran out of potato latkes when he had him over for dinner. it made me love the guy. >> when you make that amount of money, you complain about the free food. >> you think for $10 million, you should get a third potato latk latke. >> it's corrupt. >> the really surprising thing is a guy of that enormous wealth can't do something a little better with the hair. you know? >> yeah, that is a great concern. >> the comb he's got going. >> or buy his own latkes.
6:34 am
>> mike allen, thanks so much. >> you can bet in the romney white house he'll get thirds. coming up next, a little nfl, nbc sport's mike florio takes us through all the action including the late-night finish on nbc. patriots/ravens, walkoff field goal, but should it have been a walkoff field goal? what's going on with these refs? we'll be right back. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. your soups are so awesomely delicious my husband and i can't stop eating 'em! what's...that... on your head? can curlers! tomato basil, potato with bacon... we've got a lot of empty cans. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.
6:35 am
[ laughing ] [ laughing ] [ laughing ] [ laughing ] ♪
6:36 am
but with advair, i'm breathing better. so now i can be in the scene. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. if you're still having difficulty breathing, ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function. get your first full prescription free and save on refills
6:37 am
at advaircopd.com.
6:38 am
for the win. whoa, baby! and the patriots are saying no! no! >> they can't believe it. this one goes high over the upright and was really close. >> all right. you make the call. this is the replay of the game last night on nbc. that is the game-winning field goal according to the officials. bill belichick disagrees with that call, as you might gather from the video right there. joining us now to discuss week three of the nfl, the founder of profootballtalk.com, our man mike florio. good to see you. >> good to be here. >> you watched that over and over last night. you guys in the studio upstairs,
6:39 am
was that good? >> i think it was. it was close. and what's deceptive is when you watch it -- if it had been five yards back, there's no way it makes it because it was curving. the close shot, it looks like it made it inside. you can review those through replay, but when it's over the bar, there's just no way of knowing whether it was inside or outside. but the close shots, it looks like it made it through. >> that's a very difficult call. what it does, again, at least in the last two weeks it's shone a light on the replacement officials. there's no flow to these games. what's the deal with the refs? why don't we have the real refs back? >> the nfl wants to get this done on the nfl's term. i think the nfl has dug in waiting for the officials to cry uncle and say we'll take the deal. we want to come back. what's helping the nfl is the officials who are locked out are sitting home watching these games, and they're getting to the point where we can't take this anymore. our jobs are being screwed up by these replacements. we want to get back to work. and i think the nfl thinks
6:40 am
they'll say fine, we'll cave on these issues and we're ready to work. >> roger goodell and the front office is not concerned our brand it being hurt, these games are a farce in some cases that the wrong team is winning in some of these games? >> there hasn't been one yet you can point to the morning after and you can say okay, there was a bad call that caused the team that should have won to lose. you could say an accumulation of bad calls kept a team from winning, but there isn't one we're talking about saying okay, they screwed up that call. and that team lost because of it. >> what about a player getting hurt needlessly because the officials can't control a game, though? >> and that's been one of the big concerns from the nfl players association. they've written letters. they've issued statements, but they haven't taken any action. and there are things the nfl players association could do, file a lawsuit, file a grievance, they could take action under their agreement. i don't know why they haven't if they're not concerned. to be fair to the replacements, there are plenty of times you see helmet-to-helmet, and the
6:41 am
league office will clean it up with a fine. some yesterday weren't flagged in realtime. >> why aren't the owners chiming in? do they have a vested interest? >> yeah, the money comes out of their pocket. they all are under orders to not say anything. they sent out talking points back in july for owners and coaches what to say any time there are any questions. the memo was published. of course the nfl didn't want that, but the owners aren't saying this because they want to win this. guys like jerry jones say i don't see any difference between these officials and the other officials. they always say the other officials make mistakes all the time. >> not mistakes like this. these games are crazy. >> and it's the perception that these games are taking forever. >> and this is all over a pension. let's talk about what happened on the field yesterday a little bit. we'll go through these. jets/dolphins. jets win in o.t., get lucky by a couple missed field goals by miami. >> the old try to ice the kicker in overtime. >> we're going to see that right here. >> that always seems to backfire. and that's what happened.
6:42 am
nick foulke got another shot and got it through. the big news for the jets, they may have lost cornerback d darrelle revis for the season. >> how did the titans manage to get this into overtime? >> they had five touchdowns of 60 yards or more, the first time any team has done that. on the music city miracle part two. he threw the ball back. and then he had a kickoff return for a touchdown. and it came down to a bizarre play inside of the 10 yard line. the lions had the ball. they could have kicked a field goal. and this is that new weird overtime rule where you can match an opening-drive field goal. they tried to run for a first down instead of forcing it to then sudden death with six minutes left. they really screwed it up. the titans came out somehow with a win. an epic game yesterday in nashville. >> the game andrea mitchell in the house, the washington redskins. what happened? rg3, what happened? >> no offense.
6:43 am
no offense in the first half. rg3 getting banged up. the redskins tried to make it interesting, but they just couldn't. it was a -- so many great games, crazy games yesterday. your head's spinning as these games are coming to a conclusion because there were a lot of fascinating moments yesterday. >> three overtimes. real quick, more surprise that the cardinals are 3-0 or that the saints are 0-3? >> i'm more surprised by the saints. the cardinals are a sneaky good team. they have won 10 of their last 12 games. they have a great, great defense. and they could have been 0-2 when you look at the first two games. saints, they miss their head coach, sean payton. the guy's suspended and getting himself in line for extensions and raises because the owner now realizes hey, this guy must be a pretty good coach. >> they're in trouble. mike florio, we love talking to you. we could do this all day. >> thanks, andrea. >> oh, yeah. andrea's not going. >> she's a sports aficionado. i appreciate that. >> but she may have cursed the redskins. >> i think she did. >> they want you to watch from
6:44 am
home going forward. what's coming up next, willie? >> this one just for you. new evidence linking sugary drinks to obesity. also how new scientific discoveries are changing what we know about breast cancer and how to treat it. dr. nancy snyderman is here next on "morning joe." one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control.
6:45 am
our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now.
6:46 am
6:47 am
droid does. and does it launch apps by voice while learning your voice ? launch cab4me. droid does. keep left at the fork. does it do turn-by-turn navigation ? droid does. with verizon, america's largest 4g lte network, and motorola, droid does. get $100 off select motorola 4g lte smartphones like the droid razr. all right, 47 past the hour. a late booking by mika brzezinski, here with us now nbc chief medical editor dr. nancy snyderman. these are the headlines that really make a difference in people's lives. and apparently they all correlate. in "the new york times" sunday section yesterday, the founder of preventative medicine research institute recent lly
6:48 am
wrote, "perhaps the biggest misconception is that as long as you lose weight, it doesn't matter what you eat, but it does. yet being thin and being healthy are not at all the same thing. being overeighty is not necessarily link the disease or premature death. what you eat affects which disease you may develop regardless of whether you're thin or fat. some diets that may help you lose weight may be harmful to your health over time. what you eat is as important as what you exclude. your diet needs to be high in healthful carbs like fruits and vegetables and whole grains," and he goes on to make the list. i'm actually writing a book on obesity, on weight, on body image, on the food we eat and the science behind it, and there's so much science to talk about this morning that fits together dealing with breast cancer to sugary drinks. take it away. >> so huge breast cancer this morning that frankly i must say as a scientist, i was surprised it got as much pickup as it did because it's a wonkish, hard, tough study.
6:49 am
bottom line, re-establishing the fact that not all breast cancers are alike, that are genetic switches that get turned on and off like light switches, and what we have to figure out is what turns on a light switch, turns off a light switch and sets into action sort of a good neighborhood or a bad neighborhood and lets cancer start flying. i think the biggest part of this study was it required collaboration among scientists. this is no longer you get to be in your lab at your university. thousands of doctors shared information, and they are breaking hope in the genetic code. and then the idea that what you eat -- this whole idea of what you do with your genetics may be, in fact, intertwined with your environment. we can no longer separate these things. >> and the fascinating thing, as someone who's gone through this, is that now when you go to your doctor, they can look at your tumor, right, and tell you what your genetic map is and how to attack this. and they are designing -- you
6:50 am
know, they've got the drugs for your particular kind of cancer. >> and within your cancer, if it's as big as, say, a golf ball, it may be four different types of cancer in one spot. and now we can say hey, look. chemotherapy for two women who show up with the same sized tumor, let's dig deeper. so increasingly, it's showing that there's more of a complexity, and it's not one size fits all which until now is how we've been treating breast cancer. >> one quick question i have, though, dr. nancy, i have access, i have resources. >> right. >> i've got great doctors. you would know great doctors. what about all of this research? >> right. >> and is it available to the women who really need it, especially the minorities who are most affected by some of these more fatal cancers? >> well, i think we have to come to terms with a couple things that make people very edgy, and that is we have to really be smart about rationing care and get mammography to women who really need it. and for this study, does it mean
6:51 am
we're going to have new treatments tomorrow? no. but it may mean that some drugs used to treat ovarian cancer with now treat breast cancer. and it opens up that idea of new and different drugs. i think this is like building a better rocket. it does not mean that we, however, have landed on the moon. >> okay. so let's get to the headlines and the studies which you said you weren't so sure about. >> yeah, the sugar studies. >> avoiding sugary drinks can literally limit weight gain in children. what else did we find? >> this is from boston children's hospital. david ludwig who's a good friend of mine. i thought this was going to be one of those sort of duh studies. if you drink 100 calories of a cola versus kids who don't, guess what, you're going to gain weight. david separated the groups and followed them and showed kids 6 to 11, that weight stayed on. and then of course this is during the growth spurt of kids' lives when they're going to gain weight anyway. and i want to remind everybody, colas, soft drinks, are not a
6:52 am
food group. they are a treat. >> willie is upset now. seriously, it's poison. just don't drink it. >> there's nothing to be -- >> there's nothing to be gained by drinking a soda. >> i want to make a case for drinking tap water. can we get over it? kids aren't getting enough fluoride. tap water in the united states is really good. it's cheap. it hydrates your body. go back to basics. and it's good for your brain. those, i think, are the two things you should drink. >> why do we buy water, nancy? >> i don't know. we buy something that is free. and so far in this country, unlimited amounts. >> oh, my god! it's ridiculous. >> we've gone a little cuckoo. >> what do you do about the culture of soft drinks? if you go into low-income areas in many cities, that's all a lot of people drink. >> it's what a lot of people drink. you raise something very interesting that was part of
6:53 am
these studies. and that is that we may metabolize these carbohydrates differently. a latino child may metabolize carbohydrates not as well and gain more weight than perhaps a caucasian child. for a while in the '60s and '70s we took race out of medicine because it seemed that it was racist. now we've recognized that race matters in how we look at these things from breast cancer to obesity. we have to start looking at the racial differences in people. we have to get water -- and i would say to everybody, even in poor neighborhoods, your tap water is okay. >> yeah. and drink it. and you're right, andrea. mike bloomberg -- >> and mike bloomberg did exactly what public leaders do, he did something people squawked about, bitched about a nanny state, but this is public health. >> someone give us a better idea. it's working. look at what happened with cigarettes.
6:54 am
less people smoked. come up with a better idea. don't just lash out on twitter and call me horrific names. >> you? horrific? >> dr. nancy snyderman. yes, actually. thank you so much. still ahead, tom brokaw will join us on set. also nbc news political director chuck todd and david axelrod will be here. keep it right here on "morning joe." i'm jessica simpson and i'm doing ight watchers. i was expecting it to feel like i was on a diet, but the good news is, i don't. i actually still eat real food. things that i love. i'm losing weight, and i'm not feeling deprived. i never thought i'd be able to say that. i still have a ways to go but i feel more motivated than ever. i'm a mom now, and the most important thing is that i'm healthy. join me. join for free. weight watchers. because it works. join me. join for free. if we want to improve our schools...
6:55 am
...what should we invest in? maybe new buildings? what about updated equipment? they can help, but recent research shows... ...nothing transforms schools like investing in advanced teacher education. let's build a strong foundation. let's invest in our teachers so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. governor of getting it done. you know how to dance... with a deadline. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. this is awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is, business pro. yes, it is. go national. go like a pro.
6:56 am
6:57 am
6:58 am
all right. >> andrea, the lineup on "andrea mitchell reports" at 1:00. >> what do you have? >> arne duncan, new york city chancellor, condoleezza rice, chelsea clinton. >> get out! >> it's going to be a great show. >> how do you do that, andrea, every day? >> christine legarde tomorrow. >> i love christine legarde. andrea, see you at 1:00. sam stein, see you as well. up ahead, chuck todd, tom brokaw, ezra klein. we'll be right back. i don't want healthy skin for a day.
6:59 am
7:00 am
i want healthy skin for life. [ female announcer ] don't just moisturize, improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula goes beyond 24-hour moisture. it's clinically proven to improve your skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. for healthy, beautiful skin that lasts. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. also discover daily moisturizing body wash. for healthy skin that starts in the shower. only from aveeno. foon every one of our starts carda reminder...ate. that before this date, we have to exceed expectations. we have to find new ways to help make life easier, more convenient and more rewarding. it's the reason why we don't have costumers. we have members. american express. welcome in.
7:01 am
7:02 am
♪ ms. collins, aye. >> okay. welcome back to "morning joe." >> what was that? courtesy of "60 minutes," though, whatever it was. >> that was washington at work.
7:03 am
look how much they get done. did you see people just scurrying around and working and talking and debating? >> wholesome. >> yeah. you know what? because that's what happens in washington. that's gridlock. >> busy. they're busy. >> at work. >> i think there are more u.s. senators in the green room, by the way, getting ready to be on the show than were on the floor just now. >> washington at work or we got the wrong sound bite. i don't know. who knows? welcome back to "morning joe." we've got mike barnicle and richard haass still with us along with the emmy award winner, mark halperin in los angeles. halperin. and joining us on set, we have msnbc news political director and "the daily rundown," and former chairman of the republican national committee, michael steele. and from washington, columnist of "the washington post" and policy analyst ezra design. what a gro ezra klein. we were going to show you mitt romney on "60 minutes" last
7:04 am
night talking about different issues, foreign policy. we'll get to that. chuck todd, he talked about social security. did you see it? >> i did see it. >> did it seem to open the door a little bit to means testing or something? >> he did. but this is not -- the president has opened the door to some adjustments on social security. >> but we've been calling mitt romney out for not being specific. >> so on means -- he talked about means testing for mostly medicare he was being questioned about, and social security was thrown in there. you know, i thought last night was interesting in that it's too bad "60 minutes" didn't put it together bite for bite, right? you know, here's what they said on the deficit. you got a little bit of a taste of what i think the debates are going to be like. >> michael steele, did he tell us more than we already knew? did we learn something about what mitt romney's policies are going to look like and how they will change the direction of this country? >> no, not really. i mean, there wasn't a whole lot of opening up of doors.
7:05 am
look, this is, again, i said it in the summer, and i'll repeat it. this is the "seinfeld" campaign. it's about nothing right now. and you'd hope that this debate's coming up in two weeks or a week -- >> a week from wednesday. >> a week from wednesday will change that. and look, you know, these interviews, they sit down, you know, while the interviewer is not scripted necessarily in terms of where they want to go with their questions. the candidates are. and they're not going to open up any new doors. this is the warm-up to the debate. they're going to put out some feelers, some touch points, that's about it. but they're not going to get too much in the weeds and the substance, and that's unfortunate for the american people, and that's what we're starving for. give us the way out, show us the way forward, like show a little political leg. >> just a tiny bit would be nice. ezra, is perhaps what we are hearing, the bits and pieces about what they might do and the touching on the issue of means testing, exactly the reason why they can't show a little leg? >> i don't know. i mean, i'd want to go back and
7:06 am
look at exactly what mitt romney said. >> so do i. >> as i remember -- and chuck can correct me if i'm wrong on this -- i remember romney beginning to talk about doing means testing on social security earlier in the debates. it was kind of an early point of pride in his deficit plan that he actually spoke about social security that he had some cuts, some raise in the retirement age. so i wouldn't be surprised if he brought that up, but i'm not sure how new it actually is. and as a general point, i agree with chuck that i think means testing social security is something that a lot of folks on different sides of the political spectrum, barack obama and john boehner were talking about doing chain cpi and principles for reforming social security in a couple of the obama budgets. so i think there's more surprise when this comes up every so often than there really needs to be. i think means testing social security gets a fair amount of attention in washington. >> i don't get why people are always surprised by this. it is -- to me, it's sort of a standard talking point you hear from -- i can get any generic democratic politician or
7:07 am
republican politician to say some form of that on social security reform. you know, they don't go beyond that. they don't champion it. they say well, i'd be open to something like that, you hear it, but that's why it didn't feel new last night. >> you know, and i worry, richard haass, the debates won't feel new either. >> social security, it's not where the money is. it's the opposite of willie sutton, if you're serious about cutting entitlements, you end up with medicare and medicaid. on the debates, what's interesting, particularly if you're behind, why would you play it safe? >> right. >> it seems to me, if not a hail mary, at least play aggressive offense. i don't understand particularly for someone like mitt romney why he would just do the tried and true. why doesn't -- because it's one thing to sit on a lead, which is also ding russ, itangerous, it' something to play it safe. >> call it out. that's the goal here to put on the table something new, a brand-new idea or something a little different that the obama team would have to respond to. to chuck's point, when you're
7:08 am
playing the old cards and you're playing them maybe out of order or a little bit differently, it's not quite the same thing. >> barnicle. >> can you recall either reading about or living through a period when a campaign, when a country, faces such enormous obstacles, enormous problems and the lack of specifics in the campaign are so minimal? >> you know what? i actually will push back against this a little bit. i actually think that there are more people demanding specifics of these two candidates than we've seen in previous elections. i mean, does anybody remember the 2000 election being one filled with specifics? trust me, it was not. '96, no. '92, no. you didn't have a lot of detail here. there is actually -- if you really wanted to do this and go four-year cycle, there is more of a hunger, the public seems to want it more this time. and that's why i think there is this why aren't they giving us specifics? well, this is the first time the public and i think the media, everybody is sort of speaking for the public has demanded it.
7:09 am
>> yeah. >> so trying to force it -- now, we're not getting any, but i'm sitting here going, have we really gotten any less specifics than we get this any other presidential campaign? i think that's where the disconnect is. these presidential candidates are acting the way presidential candidates have done. >> but these are different times. look at '92 and '96 and so forth. it's a very different feel that the public -- to your point -- the public wants that because these are different times. the unemployment rate, the debt, the structure of our economy, the direction, are we going to be pro-government or are we going to be pro-business? >> ezra, jump in. >> i would disagree with this a little bit. i went back and looked at mccain's policy proposals, and they were a lot more detailed than mitt romney's. mitt romney just says i'll do something to get the taxing between individual and employer equal. john mccain says exactly what he would do on the tax code. i went back and read george w. bush's policy book. it's 450 pages. it's a serious piece of work. there's a lot more detail.
7:10 am
i think romney's been unusually unspecific. >> he has been really unspecific. chuck, really quick, let's give a snapshot of the polls because i want to go to halperin on this and then move on to foreign policy. just a week before the debate, we've got a debate coming in about a week? >> right. nine days. >> how would you characterize where they stand? is it close? neck and neck? >> no, i think the president has a lead. >> the president has a lead. >> in battleground states, his lead is bigger than it is nationally. if you look at that. but i think he's got a significant -- particularly when you look at the three states that matter most, florida, ohio and virginia. there's not -- i can't find a poll that has him up by less than five points in the state of ohio, legitimate poll. florida is tighter, virginia a little bit tighter. in all those cases, the president is ahead. you can't classify this race as a toss-up. the president is ahead. romney, it's not -- of course it's not insurmountable, but the pressure's on romney to win. >> so romney has a challenge on his hands for sure. mark halperin, leading into the debates, how, then, do you coax,
7:11 am
cajole information out of these candidates given the scenario that chuck just laid out that actually gives you something that you can make a decision on as a voter? >> well, i think the big question for romney is performance. look at what he did on "60 minutes." he talked on the plane last night to his press corps. he's still giving the same kinds of answers, the same specificity and lack of specificity, the same failure to drive a message to put the president on the defensive. if you're a candidate behind and you have that long "60 minutes" interview where you make the choice to talk to your press corps, you've got to drive something that dominates the news rather than the same old questions about low level of performance, same questions about lack of specificity, same questions about why are you behind in all the battleground states? i don't think he did that in either of those two opportunities. the time is running out before the debate for him to frame things so the debate is more on his terms rather than on equal terms of the president's terms. >> so let's go to the interview on "60 minutes."
7:12 am
president obama and mitt romney were both asked the questions about the rising tensions between israel and iran. take a listen. >> the president's decision not to meet with bibi netanyahu, prime minister of israel, when the prime minister is here for the united nations session i think is a mistake, and it sends a message throughout the middle east that somehow we distanced ourselves from our friends. and i think the exact opposite approach is what's necessary. >> well, look, i have conversations with prime minister netanyahu all the time. and i understand and share prime minister netanyahu's insistence that iran should not obtain a nuclear weapon. because it would threaten us. it would threaten israel, and it would threaten the world and kick off a nuclear arms race. i feel an obligation, not pressure, but obligation to make sure that we're in close consultation with the israelis on these issues because it affects them deeply. they're one of our closest allies in the region, and we've got an iranian regime that has said horrible things that
7:13 am
directly threaten israel's existence. >> richard haass, netanyahu is a complicated figure in this, try and explain if you feel what he's maybe up to in this, if you think he is, and secondly, i mean, you know point of view from which i speak, but isn't mitt romney playing with fire, jumping into this? >> well, this is going to be in some ways the most pressing foreign policy national security question facing whoever wins this november. sometime in 2013, i actually think there's a real chance either the israelis will use military force or we ourselves, the united states, is going to feel compelled to use military force in a so-called preventive military strike against the iranian nuclear program. what you heard last night in the politics was quite interesting. governor romney coming out more from the point of israel and whether this administration was doing enough. president obama saying we're doing quite a lot with israel, and by the way, we need to do this potentially for the united states. strip away the politics. i actually don't think there was a whole lot of difference between the two.
7:14 am
>> there is none on this issue. >> there is none. >> this is such a transparent political talking point on romney and an attempt to win over jewish voters. >> exactly. >> we know what he's up to because there is no difference here. and what's funny is the campaign tried to say oh, my god, barack obama said that israel's only one of the closest allies in the region! he didn't say closest ally -- well, you know, if you're meeting with david cameron, david cameron's american's closest ally. >> is he using this -- >> the israelis are clearly looking at the run-up to the election as a way to exercise leverage to get the united states to take an even tougher position towards iran. but let's be honest. if you look at the president's speech to aapac, he said the united states is not in the business of containing iran, we're in the business of preventing iran from reaching that point. look, it's going to come down to one question. how far either guy, whoever's elected, is going to allow iran to get short of actually getting a nuclear weapon? what is that gray area we're
7:15 am
prepared to tolerate? where do we say we can't live with this? what's the uncertainty we can't live with? and again, i think that is going to be a fateful decision, not just for the israelis, but for the united states come 2013. >> exactly. one other big issue to get to, joining us now from outside the site of this year's education nation summit, nbc news's tom brokaw. he's the author of "the time of our lives: a conversation about america," now out in paperback. and you, tom, will be having a conversation today about our future, our children, and the way we educate them. tom. >> good morning. well, we're going to talk about education in america. and let me try to put it in a political context for just a moment. a lot of the concentration here today will be on what works. we've got ten case studies from around the country. a lot of it is public/private partnerships in which they're making teaching more effectively. they're learning more about the parent/student relationship, the parent connection to the schools. so we'll be sharing with our
7:16 am
audience today across all the nbc platforms as well. now, what has been striking to me, listening to this conversation especially this morning, is the absence of education in this political debate that we're having. and my own strong feeling was that one of these two candidates could have made a real impact at either of the conventions if they had said, look, i believe that we need a marshall plan which is what we did at the end of world war ii to rebuild europe. we need a marshall plan to rebuild american education and especially to train american workers for the demands of the 21st and 22nd centuries work force. and i'm reaching out to private corporations and the private sector to get that done because we can't leave behind all the young workers in schools today in a way that they can't compete with the rest of the world. i honestly believe that when we get to one or the other of the two candidates, we'll have a big surprise, whether it will be education or not, i don't know.
7:17 am
>> richard, real quick to tom? >> tom, do you think that either candidate is prepared to talk about things like national standards, what we actually want -- >> it's actually hard to talk about. >> do you think they're prepared to go to that step? >> richard, characteristically, that's a very relevant question. there's a big effort, obviously, on the republican side to say let the states run it. but we've got to have national standards here. i do think that states should take more control over their schools. they know their students and their systems best. but at the same time, we have to have a bar that the whole country has to reach because we're not competing state by state around the world. it's a complex issue, but what has been striking is that there's been no discussion about this whatsoever at either convention or on the trail, for that matter. a race to the top with what obama talked about when he ran four years ago. no child left behind. george w. bush talked about that when he ran for president. and on main street america, there's great concern about education, where it goes and how
7:18 am
we get there. >> all right. tom brokaw, thanks very much. >> well, not to be -- but it's good crass politics. it's how you win over swing voters, talking about education. george w. bush and karl rove knew this. that's why he made education a big part of his campaign in 2000. >> we're not hearing -- >> it is amazing. it's sort of like it's dumbfounding. >> it's education. it's afghanistan. it's housing. they're complicated. they're tough topics. they're clunky. they're not black and white. >> some of the losers -- >> so we don't get to hear about it. >> some of the losers will end up being on -- one on your own political side, that's the fear on these issues. >> ezra, jump in. >> but what those three have in common that republicans in general now have trouble saying what are they going to do differently than the obama administration? housing, there's no plan. afghanistan, there's sort of an oscillating should we get out a little earlier? a little later? it's hard to actually say how different it's going to be. it's not that different what
7:19 am
they've said so far. and education, to a degree i think in some ways is positive. there's been a weird level of bipartisan consensus recently, no child left behind has been continued by the obama administration. >> so they can't fight. >> and then race to the top is something a lot of republicans really like. if you ask republican policy people what is the best thing the obama administration has done, they'll usually tell you race to the top. so there's not as much of an opportunity to get around the other side here. and attack them for being terrible on the issue because it's hard for you as a republican or democrat to say well, here's how i would do it all that differently. >> hey, george p. bush, jeb bush's son, he said to me at the convention, there was always an event. he said if mitt romney were smart, he'd commit to keeping arne duncan as secretary of education. >> it's true. >> i thought it was an interesting idea. >> but the common theme, as ezra just pointed out, one of the common themes on all three issues especially education requires political courage to really address it. >> i think it requires courage to maybe agree with the other side once in a while on
7:20 am
something. >> but even that, i think, the fact that there is a link between those three issues and the economy, i think you can build that bridge to education and talk about the economy. it's amazing they don't. >> education's about competitiveness. education now is about america's national security. and that's the argument people ought to try for. >> there you go. >> mark halperin? >> i was just going to say in terms of them agreeing on things, i think right now the president's tactic in the debate is whenever he can, he's going to say i agree with governor romney. that's a great idea. if romney does try to say something on education, for instance, where they agree. that's going to put governor romney in a tough position. he's going to have to find areas of disagreement. school choice is an area where he disagrees with the president, but you don't hear him emphasizing it because that is a risk with suburban voters. they don't like the notion of education vouchers. governor romney's going to have to take a risk if he wants to cause a contrast. >> great conversation. ezra klein, richard haass, thank you as well. chuck and michael steele, will you stay with us, if you can?
7:21 am
when we come back from the senate foreign relations committee, republican senator john barrasso and chris coons join us after the break. we'll ask them about tensions and protests in the middle east and what we can expect from this week's u.n. general assembly. and later, we'll talk to education secretary arne duncan. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education.
7:22 am
let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. but with advair, i'm breathing better. so now i can be in the scene. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. if you're still having difficulty breathing, ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function.
7:23 am
get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd.com. so, i'm working on a cistern intake valve, and the guy hands me a locknut wrench. no way! i'm like, what is this, a drainpipe slipknot? wherever your business takes you, nobody keeps you on the road like progressive commercial auto. [ flo speaking japanese ]
7:24 am
[ shouting in japanese ] we work wherever you work. now, that's progressive. call or click today. welcome back to "morning joe." at 24 past the hour. here with us now, republican senator from wyoming, senator john barrasso and democratic senator from delaware, senator chris coons, both member of the senate foreign relations committee. a lot to talk about this morning especially as the united nations general assembly kicks off this
7:25 am
week. you have a piece, senator barrasso, in politico about the middle east and how the president really needs to explain what he plans to do to provide leadership. i'm assuming you think he hasn't. >> well, absolutely. take a look at what he said four years ago and where we are now. he said that he was going to negotiate with iran. iran is now a lot closer to a nuclear weapon than they've ever been before. he said he was going to hit the reset with russia. russia has absolutely been blocking us step by step especially with regards to what's happening now in a number of places around the world. he said that the relationship with the islamic world was going to be very different. >> let's go back to iran. what would you be doing differently right now? what hasn't been done with iran specifically, especially in the form of sanctions? >> well, and chris and i have voted together for sanctions, and the president actually has lobbied against a number of those sanctions along the way. he has opposed the senate on a number of sanctions. but with regard to iran, the president said he was going to
7:26 am
negotiate with iran, open a dialogue. he may have gone in with an open hand, but they've met him with a clenched fist. none of the things that he said were going to happen because of his election and his personality and his background were actually going to, i think, have made matters worse. we are not treated with the kind of respect that he said we were going to be treated with. even earlier this year at a fund-raiser in los angeles, he said one of his greatest accomplishments is the way that the united states is now respected around the world, and we are not seeing that in the middle east. >> i do believe that candidate obama, senator obama, committed to responsibly ending the war in iraq and has done so. >> yeah. >> to taking the fight to al qaeda and its leadership and has done so successfully. and in the middle east, some of the positions that were taken by candidate obama have evolved over the last few years. and i think on israel's security, on standing up to iran and on imposing crippling sanctions, there's not an inch of daylight between the president and the interests -- >> i think that's an open hand. >> -- on israel.
7:27 am
>> i feel this is a narrative republicans are setting up to try and make a president who is extremely strong on foreign policy to the point where he trumps the republican party and their positions and their policies to try and set up some sort of apologist narrative. >> our friends don't trust us. and senator kerry brought this up just the other day, iran is flying over iraqi airspace, delivering into syria supplies there to be used in horrible ways against people, great atrocities, and there is nothing that the united states is doing about it. they've given up p. >> what should we do? >> we've given up control of the airspace. we should have left troops on the ground. the president should have listened in iraq to the military leaders that said don't pull out everyone. leave troops on the ground. and i think that was a mistake that the president was going by political deadlines rather than a goal that would be in the best interests of the united states. >> i disagree. i think the president and secretary clinton have led very
7:28 am
strongly on engaging on syria. i think it's critical that we jointly, republicans and democrats, in the senate and the candidates for president send a strong message about a shared position on opposition to what assad is doing in syria, on the massacres that are occurring in aleppo and damascus. and i do think that secretary clinton, you'll see later this week, leading a meeting of the friends of syria and leading multilateral, robust and muscular engagement in the region. >> chuck todd. >> senator, let me pick up on a criticism senator barrasso made with russia. let's be realistic, russia is standing in the way of doing anything in syria. that's a bottom line. that's a foreign policy failure on the president's part why? >> i do think they're responsible for preventing responsible action on syria. >> not just syria, but they were -- they've stood in the way on iranian sanctions, dragged their feet. >> absolutely dragged their feet. >> and so the reset of russia hasn't worked why?
7:29 am
>> that's right. i think that's because of calculations that putin's made internally about his own domestic politics. i think it's partly about the leadership in russia, feeling that their diminished role in the world pushes them to act more aggressively. i do think this president and the secretary of state and vice president have been effective and engaged in pushing back and in building a multilateral coalition, in engaging in areas of the world where we have been able to lead. and we've been able to strengthen our alliances and our partnerships. i've heard recently from the ambassador to the united states from israel that the u.s./israel security relationship is the strongest it's ever been. so this narrative that somehow our allies don't trust us, that there's distance, that there's weakness that our president's an apolog apologist i don't believe. >> that's what he said to the president of russia, wait. >> that sounds like a talking point. do you really think putin -- do you think putin will respond
7:30 am
somehow in a better way if you bully him? >> no. >> i mean, that seems to be what mitt romney -- >> let's go in with a clenched fist. >> what i'm saying is the president made a number of things -- china is now working around iranian sanctions. they're moving money to iran. what we're seeing is very different than what the president promised the american people four years ago with this whole way that the united states would be looked at would be very different, and it's not happening. >> bluntly, the united states is strongest when the senate acts in a bipartisan and responsible way, by a vote of 99-1, we clarified that the senate is opposed to apolicy of containment with regards to iran and the acquisition of nuclear weapons. i think probably the worst moment of this entire presidential campaign for governor romney was when he tried to take advantage of the tragedy in benghazi to advance his own campaign. we are better off when we act together, as we have been working to support the ratification of the rights -- the convention for the rights of the disabled. we will do better as a nation if we show a united and strong face to the rest of the world, and if
7:31 am
we refuse to allow extremists whether they're in iran or syria to hijack the steady movement towards freedom and progress in the middle east. >> we voted the same on a number of these things. what happened with the murder of our ambassador as he did last night just a bump in the road -- that's what he said. it's all a bump in the road. >> i want to pick up on what you said. and it's the whole idea of working together and coming together. let's look at the relationship between israel and the united states. senator barrasso, you've had the president out here saying, you know, that i talk to netanyahu a lot. we're buddy-buddies, bffs on the phone, we talk to each other. what is the problem that a lot of republicans have, particularly in the senate with the position or at least rhetorically that this administration has taken when it comes to the state of israel? >> i think israel is our closest friend and ally. and what the president said last night, it is one of our, you know, close friends and allies. i think this is the rockiest relationship now between the
7:32 am
united states and israel ever. i think the president should have met with netanyahu this week in the united nations. it would have been easy to do. so i think that's the way you show that you're friends. you don't continue to distance from them. i think that's a mistake on the part of the president. >> senator, your perspective is a little bit different? >> whether he said our closest or one of our closest is missing the larger point, which is that on the ground, the reality of the u.s./israel security relationship is the strongest it's ever been. our alliance in fighting terrorism, our alliance in ensuring israel's right to defend itself, our alliance in advocating for a pro-israel policy in the middle east i think is the strongest it's ever been. that's what really matters, not who's scheduling secretary whose return phone call, not whether you're clear and unanimous in recognizing that israel is our most important and closest ally. in the senate, we've managed to find a way to work together and to speak with one voice. it is my hope that in the remaining weeks of this presidential convention -- excuse me, this presidential campaign that we won't see needless bickering over very fine points that send the wrong
7:33 am
signal in a region in real turmoil. it is my hope we'll step up and find leadership to tackle the challenges in mali, somalia, syria, iran and elsewhere. >> senator barrasso, you agree these are tumultuous times, and it would be dangerous to try and dig in too deep in the weeks before an election? >> my editorial said the president needs to do a couple of things. one of them is say at the united nations, when he says to the people of israel, we have your back, we need to -- he needs to say what that actually is. and we need to know what his foreign policy is because it's very different than the high aspirations he had four years ago. >> senator barrasso and senator coons, thank you both very much. a great conversation. still ahead, senior obama campaign adviser david axelrod will join us on set. more "morning joe" in just a moment.
7:34 am
7:35 am
i didn't think it was anything. i had pain in my abdomen... it just wouldn't go away. i was spotting, but i had already gone through menopause. these symptoms may be nothing... but they could be early warning signs of a gynecologic cancer, such as cervical, ovarian, or uterine cancer. feeling bloated for no reason. that's what i remember. seeing my doctor probably saved my life. warning signs are not the same for everyone. if you think something's wrong... see your doctor. ask about gynecologic cancer. and get the inside knowledge.
7:36 am
7:37 am
♪ so chuck todd, a question for you. who do you have on "the daily rundown," and will you have sound bites? >> not only that, we are actually going to do the little mini-debate. >> no way! >> way!
7:38 am
way! we're going to do a little back-and-forth through the magic of television. >> through the magic of television, will the sound bite roll? >> i'm not going there. >> are you sure? you don't know? here's the thing, you don't know. >> are you doing that from up here? >> you have no clue. >> i'm doing it from the site of education nation. >> you're screwed. okay? there you go. >> oh, wow! wex is my main music man, and i love it. i've got julian castro, randy weingart and george pataki. come on. he gets up early. 3:00 in the morning. come on. >> good luck with those sound bites. coming up, a new movie coming up about failing inner city schools being called divisive and demoralizing by the
7:39 am
teachers. the director joins us next. look ahead to tomorrow, we'll talk to former president bill clinton. god, it's going to be a love fest between bill and joe. we'll be right back. now, that's what i call a test drive. silverado! the most dependable, longest lasting, full-size pickups on the road. so, what do you think? [ engine revs ] i'll take it. [ male announcer ] it's chevy truck month.
7:40 am
now during chevy truck month, get 0% apr financing for 60 months or trade up to get the 2012 chevy silverado all-star edition with a total value of $8,000. hurry in before they're all gone! looking for a better place to put your cash? here's one you may not have thought of -- fidelity. now you don't have to go to a bank to get the things you want from a bank, like no-fee atms, all over the world. free checkwriting and mobile deposits. now depositing a check is as easy as taking a picture. free online bill payments. a highly acclaimed credit card with 2% cash back into your fidelity account. open a fidelity cash management account today and discover another reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. hethey don't need one,gh wes, clay and demarcus tried on the new depend real fit briefs for charity to prove how great the fit is even while playing pro football. the best protection now looks, fits and feels just like underwear. get a free sample and try one on for yourself. the economy needs manufacturing.
7:41 am
machines, tools, people making stuff. companies have to invest in making things. infrastructure, construction, production. we need it now more than ever. chevron's putting more than $8 billion dollars back in the u.s. economy this year. in pipes, cement, steel, jobs, energy. we need to get the wheels turning. i'm proud of that. making real things... for real. ...that make a real difference. ♪ for real. ...that make a real difference. i'm bara ck o bama and i approve romney: "it's time to stand up to the cheaters" vo: tough on china? not mitt romney. when a flood of chinese tires threatened a thousand american jobs... it was president obama who stood up to china and protected american workers. mitt romney attacked obama's decision...
7:42 am
said standing up to china was "bad for the nation and our workers." how can mitt romney take on the cheaters... when he's taking their side? ♪ i remember the 35 sweet good-byes ♪ this is jamie fitzpatrick. i sold you a buick regal sedan a few months ago. i gave you a great deal. would you please give me ten seconds? >> come on in. >> so take me through this one more time. a lot of these kids can barely add. and you want to be teaching them geometry? >> the problem is is that no one expects them to do well so they don't. >> come on. look around. i'm a cop. there's drugs, there's gangs. >> change the school, you change the neighborhood.
7:43 am
>> you really think you could turn this around? >> i can't say for certain. >> 100% yes. >> all right. 42 past the hour. that was a scene from the new movie "won't back down" about mothers on a mission to give their inner-city kids the education they deserve. and here with us now, the co-writer and director of "won't back down," daniel barnes. also with us, best-selling author combat veteran of the u.s. army, wes moore back on the set with us along with michael steele. willie and me. hi, willie. >> wes moore who by the way gives a lot of his time to the question of education, so he's perfect to have on for this segment. >> perfect for education nation. your movie, first of all, tell us about it. i guess it's generating some criticism from the teachers union. we'll get to that in a moment. tell us more about the concept. >> first of all, i'm just a huge lover of david & goliath movies. i cried at "rudy." i always wanted to make a movie in that genre. and you know, i am the son of two teachers. my grandmother, public
7:44 am
schoolteacher, my sister-in-law and mother-in-law, both public schoolteachers here in new york city. education's always been a part of my family, part of my blood, and that's what made me want to make this film. >> what was the frustration, if any, you hear over the years from your parents and people in your family and other teachers that you wanted to convey in this film? >> i mean, teaching is one of the most difficult professions. and teachers are our greatest heroes. that is the hardest job i think in this country and i don't think you could possibly pay teachers enough for the work they do. i wanted to make a movie that was going to celebrate teachers and great teaching. even more fundamentally, this is a movie about people who feel powerless, and they see that there's something wrong in their world, and they go out and they try to change it. and i think that's a really inspirational story. i think it's a very american story and a story that audiences like to see on screen. >> it sounds really nice, doesn't it? >> wes, when you go out and you do a lot of work with education, what's the biggest thing you hear from students and teachers? what's their biggest frustration
7:45 am
in public schools? >> you know, it's interesting because i think one of the big frustrations, and i think the film does a great job of tackling it is it's also celebrating not just the teachers involved but the other heroes which are the parents. one of my great frustrations is when you hear people say it's because parents don't care and parents don't care about their child's education. that fundamentally could not be further from the truth. not that they don't care, but for a lot of them it's that they don't know. what do you hope is the takeaway for parents inside of this film? >> my great hope, i think that this whole issue of education can feel so daunting. it's so complicated. there's so many factors contributing to these failing public schools in terms of poverty and, you know, people say parental apathy and bureaucracy. what i wanted people to take away, you know, that individuals as parents, you know, we can go out and create change. and that's what i hope the film would offer. that would be the best thing possible. >> one of the things that i found -- find exciting about this film and the message that
7:46 am
you're conveying is really the undercurrent of empowerment, that parents and teachers, again, this is not about unions. this is not about the politics. this is about our kids. >> absolutely right. >> as lieutenant governor of maryland and i spent a year looking at education, we're going to do this through the eyes of our kids, get up in the morning and get on the school bus with that 8-year-old who's on that bus at 5:30 in the morning to get to school who's having breakfast at 10:00 and doesn't have another thing to eat until they get home that evening. and you wonder why by 2:00 the kid is, you know, bouncing off the walls. this looks at the system and the teachers are an integral part of the change. >> yeah. >> that you're talking about. this isn't about coming from top down. this is bottom up, don't you think? >> absolutely. it's also not an us/them thing. this is about how parents and teachers can come together to create change for kids, as you said, with the focus on kids all the time. >> we are less than a week removed from the chicago
7:47 am
teachers strike. they're now back on the job, thank goodness. your film has generated criticism. randi weingarten who heads up the american federation of teachers said this movie could have been a great opportunity to bring parents and teachers together to launch a national movement on reach teacher/parent collaboration. instead it makes unions the culprit for all problems facing our schools. it's divisive, it demoralizes millions of great teachers. it goes on from there. how do you respond? >> i'm not sure which movie she saw because it wasn't this movie. i've now gone to so many screenings. the best reactions are the ones that come from teachers. you know, people who say i spent 40 years teaching, you know, this movie mac makes me want to back into the classroom or go out and teach. i'm not sure what she's talking about in that vein. and i think people are tired of this sort of divisive and, you know, this debate of finger-pointing and scapegoating. i think people want to have a sense of hope. and they want to come together. and that's what the movie offers to everybody.
7:48 am
>> but were you surprised about that sense? i mean, we like to look at the feedback from "waiting for superman" and "lottery." going into this, did you know there would be this kind of feedback, and were you surprised about this? >> yes and no. do you know what i mean? on the one hand, i thought, this, of course, is a very divisive debate and a hot-button issue but it's also about people coming together. when audiences see the movie, they don't walk out thinking who can i blame? they walk out of the movie thinking what can i do? and i wish that i had been able to sit down with randi beforehand so i could explain that to her and she would have had a whole different approach to this movie to understand that it's actually inspiring people to go out and support teachers, support parents. >> you may see her in new york this week. >> yeah, new york on friday. "won't back down" premieres this friday. that is this friday, september 28th. daniel barnes, thank you very much. >> congratulations. >> good luck. >> thank you all very much. >> call randi and invite her.
7:49 am
up next, he's back. he's back. what's he going to say? >> are you and i going to talk about soccer? where's this going to go? i don't know. what are we going to do? >> wait a minute. seriously. >> maybe joe will call in. >> oh, we're screwed. all right. "morning joe" football frenzy. david axelrod will be here as well coming up. [ female announcer ] born from the naturally sweet monk fruit, something this delicious could only come from nature.
7:50 am
now from the maker of splenda sweeteners, discover nectresse. the only 100% natural, no-calorie sweetener made from the goodness of fruit. the rich, sweet taste of sugar. nothing artificial. ♪ it's all that sweet ever needs to be. new nectresse. sweetness naturally. ♪ playing a lone hand ♪ my life begins today ♪ ♪ fly by night away from here ♪ ♪ change my life again ♪ ♪ fly by night, goodbye my dear ♪ ♪ my ship isn't coming ♪ and i just can't pretend oww! ♪ [ male announcer ] careful, you're no longer invisible in a midsize sedan. the volkswagen passat. the 2012 motor trend car of the year. that's the power of german engineering.
7:51 am
7:52 am
7:53 am
did you know it was our five-year anniversary last week? the little retro piece we did? barnacle. >> and on with the attacks. he couldn't hear that. >> what's wrong with that? in that interview could you not sit up? >> i thought he was great. lounging. it got worse. all right. joining us now -- i can do this. columnist roger bennett. roger, wast going on?
7:54 am
>> we don't want to undermine the segment. soccer is the one kicking. >> can't touch it. don't touch this. >> i know that you know that you love this. it brings football to the american people. an emotional day. the industrial re lugvolution. tampa bay buccaneers and liverpool. this is a vicious day. 35th minute in. the vicious tackle of a wild eyed man. they still score. an emotional goal.
7:55 am
>> oh, my. is he okay? >> his cousin died in a terrible tragedy. but only for five minutes. that have football's e kwi le . equivalent. they needed this controversial penalty to win the game. united not so great. they did win. i'm not saying the referee was biased. i'm saying it was probably united's most creative play. liverpool, worst start since 1912. not every football player is as handsome as beck.
7:56 am
a fine finish. almost won the game this gentleman, you'll like him. >> i can't keep up. >> it's not cloer. that gap is definitely one. we're going to watch it -- where, mika? >> a bar? >> 9:00 in the morning. >> i'm not allowed in those after i knocked a table down. food all over the wall. who should we be watching? >> i mean, hopefully it's driven by money. liverpool in the bottom three despite the best effort. >> chelsea looking good, too. >> always good.
7:57 am
how about it? >> all right. probably is weird. look what's coming up next. david axelrod joins us next on "morning joe." if we want to improve our schools... ...what should we invest in? maybe new buildings? what about updated equipment? they can help, but recent research shows... ...nothing transforms schools like investing in advanced teacher education. let's build a strong foundation. let's invest in our teachers so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. to meet the needs of my growing business. but how am i going to fund it? and i have to find a way to manage my cash flow better.
7:58 am
[ female announcer ] our wells fargo bankers are here to listen, offer guidance and provide you with options tailored to your business. we've loaned more money to small businesses than any other bank for ten years running. so come talk to us to see how we can help. wells fargo. together we'll go far. but with advair, i'm breathing better. so now i can be in the scene. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition
7:59 am
or high blood pressure before taking advair. if you're still having difficulty breathing, ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function. get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd.com. monarch of marketing analysis. with the ability to improve roi through seo all by cob. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. i'm going b-i-g. [ male announcer ] good choice business pro. good choice. go national. go like a pro. [ male announcer ] good choice business pro. good choice. i i had pain in my abdomen...g. it just wouldn't go away. i was spotting, but i had already gone through menopause. these symptoms may be nothing... but they could be early warning signs of a gynecologic cancer,
8:00 am
such as cervical, ovarian, or uterine cancer. feeling bloated for no reason. that's what i remember. seeing my doctor probably saved my life. warning signs are not the same for everyone. if you think something's wrong... see your doctor. ask about gynecologic cancer. and get the inside knowledge. while addressing a town hall meeting on thursday, president obama said that you can't change washington from the inside. you can only change it from the
8:01 am
outside. a rare gaffe from the president brings us our segment. what are you doing? president obama, what are you doing? your poll numbers are looking great. your opponent is in flames. i haven't heard joe biden's name in months, which is great. on a pure entertain m level, don't do anything to take the focus off romney. the campaign is crazier than the last season of "lost." they're introducing weird new story lines. seriously. obama, what happened? did biden come in and tell you he bet his life savings on you getting reelected but he needs mitt to cover the spread? you have to keep it close, bob. these are bad guys i'm dealing with. can you really not change washington from the inside? i thought we were in charge of the hope and you were in charge of change. no one wants a coach coming in at halftime and saying, oh, that was rough. anybody have an idea.
8:02 am
>> top of the hour. welcome back to "morning joe." you look nice today. he's awesome. that was really good. >> do you have your emmies with you? >> i don't have any actual e emmys. >> and joining us onset, david axelrod. >> great to be here. >> how did mark do? >> you didn't hear? four of them. and still a tuxedo. >> how did he do? >> four. >> he took someone else's. there are four that are his. there's a fifth there. >> it's a loaner. >> a lot to talk to you about, david axelrod. mr. obama's hazy agenda for a second term. an acceptance speech on the
8:03 am
state of the union laundry twist. mr. romney has been inexcuse bli vague in outlining his program. he did nothing to mend this in his acceptance speef. mr. obama's speech also fell short of his own proclaimed standards. he offered an appealing, even stirring vision of a share citizenship and democracy. it made more frustrating his refusal to fill in any substance. once again promising hard truth that he did not deliver. is that fair, and if not, fill in the blanks. are there blanks, where we're going? >> i remember that editorial, obviously. because it's not a state of the union speech. in other words, it was far more detailed than governor romney's
8:04 am
speech. i was watching you this morning talk about education. i know you're talking to arne duncan afterwards. he made enormous progress with the top to raise standards. but we have a lot of work to do. so he set out a goal to train 100,000 new men. he set out a goal to create compact between the community colleges and businesses so we can train 2 million workers. to fill jobs that are available now, but for which people are not properly trained. he set out a goal to cut the growth in college tuition by half over the next decade. this is an enormous problem, the entry cost for young people. that's just one area in which he set goals in a speech that was really laden with them. so i appreciate the "washington post" editorial board. i agree with their assessment of governor romney's lack of specifics. but i don't think that was fair
8:05 am
criticism. >> so on one other area, which i think we would all love to hear more on, and then i'll open up for panel. saving jobs, he did. i think we all could argue that he saved millions of jobs, but there's an argument that he's not showing the way, setting clear goals, giving us a prescription for creating jobs. >> well, there again, let's go back to the area of education for one second. 250,000 educators have lost their jobs as a result of this recession. that would be valuable. he talked about accelerating infrastructure investments. we could get people to work all over the country, private companies and their employees, rebuilding roads and bridges, ports and so on. these are proposals that he's made that languished in congress, hopefully after november 6th we can get moving
8:06 am
on some of these. and how do you build a long-term economy in such a way that it's creating good, middle-class jobs? that's where investments come in in education and technology, in clean energy technology. he's been very spisk on those things. and ooip happy to talk about the president's plans. but i saw governor romney on "60 minutes." once again he laid out his basic view. $5 trillion in tax cuts. actually, he didn't lay them out. $5 trillion in tax cuts. no plan to pay for them on top of the deficit we already have. so, you know, i'm happy to match ours with the other side. the president has a realistic plan to get the economy moving and to create a long-term economy that works for the
8:07 am
middle class. >> you obviously came in in the middle of an economic crisis. you have added jobs over the course of the last three and a half years. not an acceptable rate. he wants to see more jobs. now he has three and a half years of a record. why should the american people believe over the next four years the hiring would accelerate? the economy would improve at a rate that would be acceptable? not just for the president, but for the american people. >> governor romney proposed a plan. he said, we'll create 12 million jobs over the next four years. the congressional budget said we'll probably create 12 million jobs over the next four years because we are on the mend. we have to accelerate that. i mentioned some steps that we have to take. i do believe we'll get greater cooperation after november. no longer will they be able to say our number one priority is to defeat the president, as
8:08 am
senator mcconnell said. i think the american people will render a verdict and awe want action. we want compromise. they agree with the steps the president has proposed. on the other hand, if you go the route the other side is propo proposing, most analysis says we can have a recessionary impack in the short term and longer deficits in the long term. that's not a prescription for economic growth. >> i'm sorry, if i could. that was good. but you didn't answer his question. the question was a real specific one. >> all right, michael. >> no, no. let me just -- the president has had three and a half years. he has a record. obviously. that was a horrible place to start from. so here we are three and a half years later. this election, by all standards, based on what you're saying, the president should be blowing the
8:09 am
doors off. if the american people saw the economy the way you're describing it. so for the next four years, what is the president specifically going to do to address the $6 trillion he's added to our deficit. he came in 10.6 trillion. now it's 10 trillion. how does he tell the american people in the faith of creating jobs i'm going to reduce this burden on your kid? what specific steps since he put this aside, what is the specific goal? >> first of all, michael, one thing i want to correct in your answer is i'm not suggesting we're where we need to be. i would suggest we're in a better place than we were losing 800,000 jobs a mon, which is where we were when we came into office. i think there's a long-term problem in the economy that we have to address. it's harder and harder to get ahead in the economy. that was true before the crisis.
8:10 am
let me set that aside. if your question is about deficits, and i think that's what it is, i think willie's was about how to get the economy moving. they are tied together. and the art of it is how do you view with deficits in a way not to thereto l down economic growth. the president says we have to have a deficit reduction plan that allows room for growth. he proposes $4 trillion deficit plan over the course of a decade. he signed the largest cuts in discretionary spending that we've ever had in the country. we have to get the revenue into the picture. we cannot afford the high end tax cuts for the wealthy that take up a trillion additional dollars over the next decade. that has to be part of the equation. so 2.51 to 1.
8:11 am
as long as you do what governor romney said. i will not allow revenues, you're never going to solve the problem. they propose defense cuts deeper than what he is willing to accept. the principles are the right ones. there has to be a balanced approach, cuts and revenue. >> why not grab it and run with it? >> well, i just mentioned one aspect of it. he didn't agree with every element of simpson-boles. the other element is had he embraced it, it would have been boa because of the nature of our politics. and even paul ryan, who was on the commission wrote against the
8:12 am
report, as did every member of the house republicans. they will not accept any revenue. so it would have been a symbolic effort to endorse it at that moment in its entirety. he has adopted the principles of simpson-boles. there's no doubt that the principles of balanced deficit reduction will be what drives the discussion forward after november 6th. >> okay, just quickly i want to jump on something you said, which is the middle class is in jeopardy before it crashed. if that's the case did the president oversell on what he could do for the country? >> no. what the president said then is this is a long-term challenge for the country.
8:13 am
the other element of that, mika, is when we were campaigning in 2008, there wasn't a question around who knew just how deep and ferocious the recession would be. there's no doubt that made the task more difficult. >> the guy with four emmys has a question. >> social security came up last night on "60 minutes." what is the president proposing to do to reform security, save it for future generations, and will it involve lower benefits or higher taxes? >> there, too, the approach has to be a balanced one. we've had discussions in the past. the question is, can you raise the cap? right now social security cuts off at a lower point. can you raise the cap so the upper income is a little more
8:14 am
into the program? that's a discussion work having. we have to approach it in a balanced way. we're not going to cut our way to prosperity. we're not going to cut our way to entitlement programs. we have to have a balance. >> so what is his proposal? >> mark, i'll tell you what, when you get elected to the united states senate and sit at the table -- this is not the time. we're not going to have the discussion right now unless they say we're ready to move on a balanced approach. the reality is it's a much bigger problem than medicare. so we have extended the life of medicare for close to a decade.
8:15 am
but social security a more distant problem. one that needs a solution. but it isn't as pressing as a medicare issue. >> and there's one thing else, november 6th right around the corner. sequestration, the automatic cuts, so what happens? what's the plan? >> well, the plan is to sit down -- as i said, the president right now has proposed a way in which we could get the wolves away from the door. which is to agree on what everybody says they can agree on. let's extend the bush tax cuts for income under $250,000. let's let them expire on schedule for everything above that. that would save close to a trillion dollars. that would give breathing room on the sequestration. that's something we can do right away if the congress is willing.
8:16 am
last week some republicans said we need to throw in the towel if mr. obama is reelected. i believe we will be reelected. if we weren't, that would take firm action until romney became president. we need a balanced plan, as i said before that combines revenues and cuts. i think as of november 6th everybody is going to sober up and recognize that we have to act. sequestration is there for a reason. it's an awful prospect. >> i want to follow up on mark's question and back to the one i just posed. why doesn't the president, given i give you the hostility in the senate and the possibility of it not lasting, but why not lead? why not say this is what it is i'm supposed to do. i know the crazy people in the senate aren't going to go with this, but this is what the american people need.
8:17 am
in other words the president take the bull by the horn and lead with it then maybe others would follow. >> the president has led and will lead. he plowed it back into health care. plowed it back into medicare. medicare's life has been extended as a result. people are getting better benefits as a result of of it. so there's an awful lot of demagoguery out there. it's very hard to have a discussion on the issues like that. he'sing there to move on the issues in a balanced way and everything is on the table. governor romney has ruled out any new revenues. he wouldn't take $1 of new revenue for $10 of cuts.
8:18 am
as long as that is your attitude, you'll never solve the problems. gl the president said the most important lesson i learned is you can't change washington from the inside. that came off depressing as some people to hear the president of the united states say that. >> it shouldn't have been that surprising first of all, he's been saying that a long time. secondly, it was sort of the premise of his candidacy. the way we bring about change is when the american people are fully engaged. what we learned particularly from the standoff on the debt sealing is we do best at making change in the country when the american people are fully eng e engaged in the debate. that's why he went on the road for the jobs act. that's how got the payroll tax cut. the president engaged the american people, and they forced action. >> isn't the very point of
8:19 am
politics and indeed being president of the united states is that you go to washington to change the country from the inside? >> we ended a war. we've had health care reform. we had very important wall street reform. >> saved the car industry. >> yeah. there's a whole range of things that we were able to accomplish. so change is happening. but on some of these issues, it's going to be the american people on november 6th who are going to make the difference. >> yeah, we have to go. >> you have to go. there's a scene where speaker pelosi presidents the president on mute and starts talking to someone else. >> yeah. but speaker pelosi has been emphatic about the fact that that didn't happen. i know the relationship between the two.
8:20 am
it's a very respectful relationship. it's a constructive relationship. i find that seems to be far f t felt -- fetched. >> are you kidding me? >> david axelrod, thank you so much. i'll help you with that list. >> were you surprised? >> it surprised me so much. where do you think i'm from? i haven't ever lied? you okay there, barnacle? >> yeah, so far. >> coming up next, we'll bring in education secretary, arne duncan and the acclaimed new book "how children succeed." first bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> good morning, meika. we started offal on a very cold note. a lot of people turning the heat on. temperatures continue to be very
8:21 am
cool. the southern half of the country would love a taste of the chilly air. it's going to remain hot from arizona to texas. it's in the 30s in detroit. chicago is at 40 degrees. many, many locations are seeing the coldest temperatures of the season. september sunshine is very strong. it's going to be a beautiful afternoon. so many areas of the country are going to be dry. right through the heart land of the middle of the country. from denver to kansas city. that's not today. that's for tomorrow. overall a nice quiet end to the month of september. no tropical storms headed our way. with the spark cash card from capital one, olaf's pizza palace gets the most rewards of any small business credit card!
8:22 am
pizza!!!!! [ garth ] olaf's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! helium delivery. put it on my spark card! [ pop! ] [ garth ] why settle for less? great businesses deserve the most rewards! awesome!!! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? or double miles on every purchase, every day! hey america, even though slisa rinna is wearing the new depend silhouette briefs for charity
8:23 am
to prove how great the fit is even under a fantastic dress. the best protection now looks, fits and feels just like underwear. we invite you to get a free sample and try one on too. ♪ playing a lone hand ♪ my life begins today ♪ ♪ fly by night away from here ♪ ♪ change my life again ♪ ♪ fly by night, goodbye my dear ♪ ♪ my ship isn't coming ♪ and i just can't pretend oww! ♪ [ male announcer ] careful, you're no longer invisible in a midsize sedan. the volkswagen passat. the 2012 motor trend car of the year. that's the power of german engineering.
8:24 am
8:25 am
25 past the hour. welcome back to "morning joe." that's the new york public library where education nation kicks off today. here with us now secretary of education, arne duncan. also the author of "how children succeed." wes moore also back at the table. great panel. mr. secretary, we do want to ask you where school reform stands, but first take us to chicago. how did the bill end up? how would you grade it? >> i think they are in a really good place. i give so much credit to
8:26 am
everybody involved in that. it's very respective of teachers and treats them as the professionals they are. >> that was a rough way to get there. if you're happy with the deal, my god. >> it was tough to get there. they got to a safe place. so i feel very good about what they accomplished together. >> one of the hangups was about teacher evaluation. it's a hard thing because you want them to be held to a standard. but what is the standard. in your mind what is the best way to evaluate a teacher? >> you want to look at student growth and gain. you got to look at any profession. a single number should never be a test. >> so you leave that district to district? school to school? >> district by district.
8:27 am
that's negotiated at the local level. i think the outcome there is a fantastic one for school children, for the city, and for teacher teachers. >> but it is hard to evaluate performance. and it's kind of unfair in some areas. would you agree with that? >> i think it's very important that it be fair. i think the problem in the past decade is it didn't help teachers get better. it wasn't working at the bottom. now you have a series of districts all over the country, hundreds of districts and states moving the forward together. union and manager working together. i think as a country we'll be in a much better place, two, three, four, five years from now than we were in the past decade. >> you you a book "how children
8:28 am
succeed" to make us look at the way our children learn. what's the big takeaway from your book and how it could affect your public schools? >> i think the idea is we focus too much in question and child development on iq. on the narrow range of cognitive skils, and what i'm finding in the research and in particular educational innovation is that what makes a bigger difference in a kid's success is noncognitive skills or character strengths. things like grit, curiosity, optimism, perseverance. but how do you measure that? >> it's not easy, but some schools are trying to figure that out. there's schools in new york issuing a character report card. you can't fail, get held back a year for failing, but it gives them a way to talk to students
8:29 am
about the character strengths. and that gives the message to kids, this is something you can improve. a lot of us think of character as something fixed in place. >> and in addition to that, not only how you evaluate it, but also how do you scale it? the first book looking at the model, how do we scale success? in a wide ranging way for all of our kids to be able to achieve? >> well, secretary duncan, trying to scale up, and senator obama when he was on the campaign trail talked about how to expand the zone into a lot of different cities. secretary duncan doesn't agree on the scale of that. but i'm excited that promised neighborhoods does exist and he's scaling it up bit by bit. >> and i think it's so important. i think paul's evaluation is so
8:30 am
critically important. people always ask what is the appropriate federal is to invest in what works. and you see things happening. we're trying to invest heavily in stating showing courage, districts showing courage. when we see things working, we have to take the pockets of excellence, and we're trying to put significant resources behind that. >> you've overseen the opt out. i think it's 3 # states for no child left behind. george bush's secretary of education margaret spelling came out against that. saying it stops the transparency that no child left behind brought in. what do you make of the criticism? >>. >> no child left behind is fundamentally broken. it was very prescriptive, top down from washington. led to a dummy down of standards.
8:31 am
nothing good for children or education or to the country. we definitely want a congress to fix the law and fix it in a a bipartisan way. congress isn't getting much done these days. we have the opportunity to provide greater flexibility, make sure accountability is fair and focused and flexible. we've worked with republican democrats, north, south, east, west. 3 # states in. another eight or ten to work with. we're moving way beyond a single test score, which i really resented about no child left behind. states are starting to look at increasing graduation rates, reducing dropout rates. making sure the high school graduates are college and career ready. i think it's much more comprehensive and much fairer way to evaluate progress. we have a great third grade test score but a 50% dropout rate, you're not changing children's lives. are we really preparing children for education and the higher
8:32 am
world of work. >> your book is how children succeed. grit, curiosity and the hidden power of character. thank you, education nation continues. you going down there today? >> yes, and thank you so much. we're really proud to be a part of it. >> actress olivia wild joins us next. her next project aimed at turning depression into opportunity. when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level.
8:33 am
let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. ♪ ♪ hi dad. many years from now, when the subaru is theirs... hey. you missed a spot. ...i'll look back on this day and laugh. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. to provide a better benefits package... oahhh! [ male announcer ] it made a big splash with the employees. [ duck yelling ] [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. ♪ ha ha!
8:34 am
and those well grounded. for what's around this corner... and the next. there's cash flow options from pnc. solutions to help businesses like yours accelerate receivables, manage payments, and help ensure access to credit. because we know how important cash flow is to reaching your goals. pnc bank. for the achiever in you.
8:35 am
8:36 am
>> does your husband ever hit you? >> no. >> they kind of revolutionized the way people talk about hate. made people very fired up and inspired and certainly made me want to get out there and be part of the movement. >> that was a clip of olivia wilde in half the sky, turning depression into opportunity for women worldwide. a multipart documentary airing on cbs this fall.
8:37 am
olivia is one of six celebrity activists featured in the project. she joins us now on segment. i thought the book was life changing just to read. >> absolutely. it encouraged a lot of people to get involved. it broke down the elements of poverty and different ways to be proactive. that's why i love it. it's an optimistic stance. >> i want to know how to share with others how to be optimistic. tell us something perhaps people don't understand if they haven't read the book about exactly how deep oppression is worldwide and how it shows its, especially in women in hair children. >> the point of "half the sky" is we we have to take poverty seriously. so i represented the empowering segment of the documentary. which airs on october 2nd. several actresses host different
8:38 am
parts of the documentary. so i got financial power in kenya. it was extraordinary. i met people benefitting from micro savings, micro loans. i went to a village of all women, which was really fantastic. >> oh my god, how fun? >> i know. >> it must have been like a perfect world. >> it was. everything was very smooth. nobody fought. everything is very efficient and clean. it's a great book and documentary. it's about the little organizations run locally that are really effective. >> the sex schism on this set is outrageous. >> we're outnumbered. >> and a diplomat. >> you don't know you do, but you do. >> olivia, what was it about the group? was it that you read the book and wanted to jump in?
8:39 am
>> well, nicholas kristoff, when he wrote this book it made me want to get involved in a different way. i was traveling in haiti if many years. i really wanted to learn more about the women es movement worldwide and particularly financial empowerment. that's why i got involved. i was really lucky to work with them. it was really educational. >> what did you find that keeps women mired in poverty? what were some of the elements out there that despite all the hot let rik and efforts you see global globally what do you sew as a problem point for women? >> i would say gender based
8:40 am
violence. there's a lot of oppression in the home that's keeping them from being able to be educated and therefore have businesses. once women are allowed to have a job, then the men in the family tend to be easier on them and give them power in the home. when women are in control of the finances, 80% of the money goes back into the household. >> what happened? >> it's a much smaller amount. much smaller amount goes back to the education. and the household. when the men see the incredible potential of the women of the household and how they're great business people and educators then they understand it's wl rort while. >> it's a really important point. the thing that will drive people
8:41 am
is the level of efficacy. you watch the countries with the most significant statistic call growth in gdp, it's countries getting women more involved in the economic futures of the country. we've also seen a growth in women political leadership. not just in developed countries, but in developing countries. how do you think that's going to affect us? >> i think it will be inspiring for young women to see the potential that they have. for a lot of people society established they cannot become world leaders and should not bother being educated. having these leaders inspires men and women to take their daughters seriously. this book is saying we have so much potential in the world. it's our brain power to allow these women to hold up so i think these world leaders will
8:42 am
not only adjust policies so it's more possible for women to have access to education and health care and be able to run businesses that invest in the community, but also just as an example. >> all right. the program is half the sky. you need to see it. turning oppression into opportunity for women worldwide. it airs on cbs october 1st and second. your new film butter hits theaters october 5 th. >> it's a political satire based on butter carving in iowa. >> you go to a state fair and see them. they're unbelievable. >> it's great to have you on the show. >> thank you so much. >> please come back. great to talk to you again. we can talk politics. evens things out here. seriously. and let's go to that town of all women. the problem is we would never wan to leave. >> i didn't want to leave. >> up next is mitt romney from his "60 minutes" interview.
8:43 am
you be the judge. the tale of the tape next on "morning joe." i don't want healthy skin for a day. i want healthy skin for life. [ female announcer ] don't just moisturize, improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula goes beyond 24-hour moisture. it's clinically proven to improve your skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. for healthy, beautiful skin that lasts. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. also discover daily moisturizing body wash. for healthy skin that starts in the shower.
8:44 am
only from aveeno. i needed to lose weight right in my hands. sophomore year started weight watchers online, the weight started coming off. ahh! oh my gosh! [ laughs ] we're college kids, we go out all the time. having my food tracker on my phone, i can figure out what i'm having at the restaurant. i lost 73 pounds with weight watchers online. i don't think i've ever smiled this much in my whole life. it kind of hurts my cheeks. [ female announcer ] join for free. offer ends october 20th. weight watchers online finally, losing weight clicks.
8:45 am
not in this economy. we also have zero free time, and my dad moving in. so we went to fidelity. we looked at our family's goals and some ways to help us get there. they helped me fix my economy, the one in my house. now they're managing my investments for me. and with fidelity, getting back on track was easier than i thought. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get one-on-one help from america's retirement leader.
8:46 am
how much trouble is the romney campaign in this morning? and what changes it? >> well, there's been a lot of trouble this morning. he's going to do well in the debates. think think ryan is going to do well in the debates. we have a long way to go. so it's not over. that's the trajectory of the campaign. that's the change. this has been a horrific week for him. the libya press conference was a nightmare from him. even worse from the 47% video.
8:47 am
they have a the right to shift. if they do, long way to go. >> that was joe on "meet the press" yesterday. that was the clip. okay. he was very good. it was good. >> that was a real debate on tv. i don't like the way you're saying that, but okay. joe has very gently pointed out that the rom knee campaign needs to get more bold yesterday romney's lack of specifics may have tripped him up. >> does the government have the responsibility to provide health care to the 50 million americans who don't have it today? if someone has a heart attack,
8:48 am
they don't sit and die. we pick them up in an ambulance and give them care. different states have different ways of providing for the care. >> that's the most expensive way to do it, in the emergency room. >> different states have different ways of doing that. >> do you believe in universal coverage? >> oh, sure. look. it doesn't make a lot of sense for us to have millions and millions of people with no health insurance and who can go to the emergency room and get entirely free care for which they have no responsibility. particularly if they're people who have sufficient means to pay their own way. >> wait a minute. i'm confused. >> it's astounding. on this issue where he talks about emergency rooms, spend an hour innage an emergency room on a friday or saturday night in baltimore or any big city, the costs are astronomical.
8:49 am
the states have a real problem. mark, does that clip show two different mitt romneys? it shows how tied in knots he is and afraid of making a mistake. this is an issue he knows well. any governor knows emergency room care z the stupid as possible way to provide care to people. plom is so afraid to say what he really thinks because he doesn't want to make a mistake. he can never win if he's tied on notes on something that close to his heart. >> that was painful to watch. okay. help me out here.
8:50 am
who is? >> it goes to the core of the frustration. it's not about the party. it's not about anything other than tell us how you get us through. and the fact that you are saying two different things. >> can it be resolved? >> it can be as the governor of the state, this is now how we fund health care. we do have a prescription and this is what it is. >> tomorrow on "morning joe." former president bill clinton will join us. former florida governor jeb bush and goldie hawn. >> that's quite the lineup.
8:51 am
8:52 am
two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. and every day since, we've worked hard to keep it. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help people and businesses who were affected, and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open for everyone to enjoy -- and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. we've shared what we've learned with governments and across the industry so we can all produce energy more safely. i want you to know, there's another commitment bp takes just as seriously: our commitment to america. bp supports nearly two-hundred-fifty thousand jobs in communities across the country. we hired three thousand people just last year. bp invests more in america than in any other country. in fact, over the last five years, no other energy company has invested more in the us than bp. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. today, our commitment to the gulf, and to america, has never been stronger.
8:53 am
8:54 am
there is speculation that mitt romney applied a self tanner to dye his face brown before addressing a town hall on spanish language tv. speculation? he looked like my dad's recliner. i think this appearance was more pandering.
8:55 am
i'm meteorologist bill karins with your business travel forecast. what a beautiful afternoon it's going to be in so many areas of the country today. from the blaix of the ohio valley through the eastern seaboard. it will be nice in l.a. today. 78. ep joy your day. americans believe they should be in charge of their own future.
8:56 am
how they'll live tomorrow. for more than 116 years, ameriprise financial has worked for their clients' futures. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want. where they want. doing what they want. ameriprise. the strength of a leader in retirement planning. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you one-to-one. togeth for your future. ♪
8:57 am
keys, keys, keys, keys, keys. ♪ well, he's not very handsome ♪ to look at [ sighs ] ♪ oh, he's shaggy ♪ and he eats like a hog [ male announcer ] the volkswagen jetta. available with advanced keyless technology. control everything from your pocket, purse, or wherever. that's the power of german engineering. ♪ that dirty, old egg-suckin' dog ♪ but with advair, i'm breathing better. so now i can be in the scene. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day.
8:58 am
advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. if you're still having difficulty breathing, ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function. get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd.com. all right. it's time now to talk about what we learned today. i learned that michael steele thinks i'm weird. whatever. >> what? >> that's what you've been telling me all morning.
8:59 am
mark hapgren. emmy man. >> best way to do this show on west coast time. stay up all night. three quarters of a vodka martini. two diet cokes and a vegetable juice, totally does it. >> that's what i do in this show. >> i learned mark can provide insightful, coherent analysis when he's been up all night drinking vodka martinis with hollywood type. >> mark, we're so proud of you. >> i learned you're not weird. want to give a shoutout to olivia wilde. it's really fantastic work. >> i learned in the village that stands for unity. there is no violence, no war. >> no problem. >> and no men. and no men. >> emp is happy. everyone is happy.